How to Generate Medical Illustrations with Natomy

Natomy's image mode has two options:

• Upload Image — turn a clinical photo, surgical photo, sketch, or diagram into an illustration. Pick this when you have a source image.
• Text to Image — describe what you want, and Natomy draws it from scratch. Pick this when you have no source image.

Click Image in the left sidebar to start.

Step 1: Upload your image

Drag a file into the upload box, or click to browse. Natomy takes JPG, PNG, and WEBP files up to 16MB.

Step 2: Pick a style

The Style dropdown sets the look of your illustration.

Style	Best for
Academic Illustration	Netter's-style figures for textbooks, lectures, and study notes
Photorealistic Render	Life-like detail for case presentations and clinical reference
Ultra-Realistic Animation	A 3D look for digital and social posts
Carbon Dust Illustration	The classic tonal look of hand-made medical art
Pen and Ink Illustration	A hand-drawn look for journals and editorial work
None (Edit Mode)	Edit your image and keep its current look

Start with Academic Illustration for teaching material. It also solves the social media problem: an operating room photo that gets flagged as graphic on LinkedIn becomes a figure you can share.

None (Edit Mode) opens an Editing Instructions box. Use it to change one thing about your image. For example: remove the background and label the femur.

Step 3: Set the aspect ratio

Pick the shape that fits where the illustration goes:

• Landscape — 16:9 for slides, 4:3 for print figures, 1:1 for social posts
• Portrait — 9:16 for stories and reels, 3:4 for posters

Set this before you generate. The model builds the picture to fit the frame you give it.

Step 4: Choose a model and generate

The Model dropdown has two options:

• Fast — about 30-40 seconds. Good with labels. Start here.
• Slow — up to 90 seconds at busy times. Wins on complex anatomy. Struggles with labels.

Fast is quick and good with labels, so it suits most work. Choose Slow when an edit cannot fix the anatomy Fast gives you.

Click Generate Illustration. A timer runs under the preview while the model works.

Step 5: Compare the result

The preview turns into a before/after slider. Drag the handle to compare your photo with the illustration.

A toolbar sits above the preview: undo, redo, Start Over, Download, Layer, Marker, and thumbs up and down.

Use the thumbs. They tell us which outputs work, and that feedback shapes the models.

Step 6: Refine with edits

Type your change in the instructions box and click Edit Illustration. Edits are free. Make one change at a time.

remove the surgical instrument and the green marker

label the ACL and the medial meniscus

change the background to plain white

Use the marker for one spot. Click Marker, draw over the area you want to change, then describe the change. The marker holds the edit inside your drawing and leaves the rest of the image alone. A Clear button appears once you draw. Skip the marker when you want to change the whole image.

Add a reference image when words fall short. The + button under the instructions box takes a second image. Use it to match a color scheme, a label style, or your institution's house style.

Undo steps back through your history, so you can try as many edits as you like.

Step 7: Separate into layers (beta)

Layer splits a finished illustration into pieces you can move: labels, single structures, and the background.

Click Layer, describe the pieces you want, then click Separate Layers (beta):

Separate the L4 and L5 labels

Layers cost 2 credits and take about 90 seconds. Once they load:

• Drag a layer to move it
• Right-click a layer for Move up, Move down, and Delete
• Drag the compare slider to check the layers against the original

This is the fastest way to move a label off the anatomy it points to, or to drop one structure and keep the rest of the figure.

While layers are open, an edit changes the whole image instead of a marked spot.

Step 8: Download

Click Download for a 2K file. It is sharp enough for slides, posters, textbooks, and journal figures. Downloads are free, so save as many versions as you want.

Ready to try it

Open the generate page, upload a clinical photo, and pick a style. Book a 1-on-1 tutorial or use the chat widget if you want help.